Introduction
First, welcome to the Visionary Universe Wiki. In the true spirit of the wiki process, we are asking all of you, our fans, fellow creators and just hobby based creative types to make your contribution to the Visionary Universe. First and foremost, as with any wiki based on a fictional series or setting, please, feel free to edit pages and references if you find an error, or see an incomplete link, or other edits based on referencing what is known. However, we also invite you to join us in a grand experiment, creating an actual fictional universe, which will feature a growing number of published works, but which has a rich background, detailed development of various elements, including people, races, cultures, and worlds, as well as a rich history. To do this, we invite you to contribute something 'new' to the Visionary Universe. That's right, something new! Now, obviously since the Visionary Universe Canon is contained in its published work, and since a larger body of such work is in development, just throwing something in haphazard could result in chaos. As a result, in the spirit of this experiment we ask you to consider following the guidelines which we believe still remain within the spirit of the wiki process: *Discussion first... If you are considering making a post of a new entry, please first mention it here on the discussion page, or on the discussion page of an article related to your intended addition first. That way, those of us behind the actual development of the published end of the universe can review it and let you know if it fits or not. This would be especially important for larger articles. *Respect the Canon... Obviously, posting an entry which contradicts the canon goes against the nature of this material. This is a 'single continuous' creation, meaning its purpose is to explore and expand a single fictional reality, not its numerous divergents. *The Canon Respects You... The important thing we're doing here is that material which is created, and does not conflict with established canon, will be honored and considered part of the canon. Even better, we will be making a focused effort of including such material then, whenever possible, in our actual published work. So, if you give the name of a character's parents, you then get to look for us fitting in a reason to reference those parents. There may be a few exceptions where overwhelming reasons push us toward changing something as established within the content of the Visionary Universe wiki, but these will be very isolated exceptions. *Supplementary Material Over 'Story Material' is preferred... If you're going to create something new in the Visionary Universe and add it here, its much better and much more likely to fit into the canon of the VU if its more in the nature of reference material, or expanding on principles, background or other more supplementary material. For example, an entry which details a major historical event, or details the destruction of the earth in 2010, or is a character entry for the world's most powerful super-hero who's never appeared in a published work, chances are its going to end up being in conflict with the 'mapped' part of the Universe in development and thus be removed. However, if you add background information on a character, such as where they were born, their favorite food, or their family tree, this has a stronger chance of being accepted as canon. Likewise, articles which deal with more generalized development or background will work easier. Examples here could include a treatise on the mechanics of time travel, or a fully detailed article on the physiology of dwarves. (In 2007 Visionary Comics Studio will launch an initiative to allow fans to create stories set within the canon Visionary Universe as well) *Check the Requested Article List... If you're not sure about doing something totally original, check out our requested article listing which will contain a number of potential fan-sourced articles. *Secondary Source Entries... Another way to do something more involved, but safer in terms of fitting in the continuity and canon of the Visionary Universe is to create a Secondary Source entry, a news article, scientific article, or other 'original source' from within the Visionary Universe based on something from a story, or extrapolations or inferences drawn from a published story. *First Come, First Serve... Please respect what others have added as new creations. For example, if someone writes a detailed article on the mechanics and principles of time travel and posted it, but you wanted to write one, using a different set of principles and mechanics, please don't ravage the given article to change it to your intent. If you feel really strongly that some fundamental changes should be made, bring them up on the Talk page for that article and generate discussion. If others feel the same way, some changes might be suggested. *Editing / Removal... Members of the project who are actual developers of the Visionary Universe and its published content have developed a great deal of material for publication and to provide a framework for this universe. We will be regularly monitoring the project. If we find articles which we know are in contradiction of established, or soon to be established canon of the universe, we may edit or remove such articles and post our reasoning in the discussion section. Please understand and respect that. *Visual Contributions Please don't limit yourself to written contributions. Please feel free to add photos, original artwork, diagrams or other visual references for any part of the wikia. This can certainly include actual published work or images, but we also encourage fan-art, or all original art. As with text, we ask only that any visual contributions maintain the level of quality, spirit, integrity and continuity of the established canon of the Visionary Universe. Please do not include any offensive, crude or otherwise inappropriate art or visuals. To maintain a level of quality as well, VCS reserves the right to remove or edit any images deemed too amateur or too low in quality to fit into the level of quality of the site overall. Please understand and respect the decisions of the moderators in this. ---- We greatly appreciate people contributing and hope that this becomes a unique and fun experiment. Next year we intend to launch our Fan-Canon Fiction through our main website. This will enable fans to submit all original stories, and those selected will be added in as actual canon material and considered part of the growing Visionary Universe. Notice This wiki primarily deals with the Visionary Universe, a trademarked and copyright protected fictional setting, populated by the intellectual properties of Visionary Comics Studio and its owners. The material on this website in no way should be taken to undermine the protection or status of those rights and is included here with the express permission of those rights holders. However, in accordance with Wiki policy, the actual material included on this project is open and free source material which can be duplicated elsewhere. By adding material to this project you hereby grant that Visionary Comics Studios, its beneficiaries, partners, or affiliates, have rights and access to use such material in its creative works. Thus by creating or adding information to entries, you hereby, without limit or restriction, provide rights for VCS and others to make reference to such materials in various published media. Whenever possible credit will be given, and if significant enough, such creators may be invited to participate directly in the production, and receive financial renumeration for their participation. However, this will be case by case and no restrictions are inherent for VCS to provide. --C. Edward Sellner 06:33, 9 July 2006 (UTC)